As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases rises steadily, Health Canada is urging Canadians to be prepared in the event they have to self-isolate — and that includes creating an emergency kit.
A typical emergency kit contains basic supplies that your family can survive on during an emergency, “even in cases where the power is out for an extended period of time or you have no access to running water or other necessities,” Health Canada said on its site.
“Make sure your emergency kit is easy to carry — in a duffel bag, backpack or a suitcase with wheels, for example — and that everyone in the household knows where it is.”
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On the list of items, Health Canada recommends two litres of water per person per day that you predict you could be in self-isolation.
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However, you shouldn’t leave self-isolation without clear instruction from a health-care professional. They also recommend including foods that won’t spoil, like “canned goods, energy bars and dried foods.”
“Remember to pack a manual can opener so you can get into the food,” the site reads.
Special needs or health-related items such as prescription medications, infant formula or equipment for people with disabilities
Extra keys for your car and your house
Cash (especially smaller bills and change for payphones)
Your family’s emergency plan
“If you have a lot of people in your household, you might want to make a personalized kit for each person instead of one large kit for the entire family,” said the agency.
The first is to refill your prescriptions so you don’t have to visit a busy pharmacy and risk spreading the novel coronavirus to others.
“Consider seeing your health-care provider to renew your prescriptions ahead of time,” reads the Health Canada website.
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The agency also advises Canadians to stock up on “non-perishable” food items, such as dried pasta and sauce, prepared canned soups and canned vegetables and beans.
Health Canada also recommends having extra stores of things like toilet paper, pet food and feminine hygiene products. This will ensure you don’t need to leave your house should you become sick.
However, due to limits on the supply chain to meet demand, Health Canada does not recommend stockpiling these items all at once.
“It is easier on the supply chain if people gradually build up their household stores instead of making large-scale purchases all at once,” reads the site. “To do this, you can add a few extra items to your grocery cart every time you shop.”
Do Canadians need to stockpile items?
Canadians wary about the spread of COVID-19 are filling up carts at grocery stores and pharmacies, stockpiling supplies they may need if things get worse. In February, federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu suggested that people consider stockpiling food and medicine.
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“It’s really about, first of all, making sure that you do have enough supplies so if someone in your family becomes ill, if you yourself become ill, that you have what you need to survive for a week or so without going outside,” she said.
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Other health officials, like Ottawa Public Health’s Dr. Vera Etches, has also said staying well supplied is good standby advice that’s always applicable — not just in this case.
She said public health agencies warn all the time that people should have provisions for unexpected emergencies, including snowstorms, power outages and even possible pandemics. However, the government also cautioned Canadians not to rush to stores and buy in bulk, noting that may put a strain on the supply chain. Instead, Health Canada recommends buying a few items on each trip to the store.
“The reason for stockpiling these items is not necessarily because you will need to self-isolate,” the website read.
“Having these supplies on hand will ensure you do not need to leave your home at the peak of the outbreak or if you become ill.”
Anna Banerji, director of global and Indigenous health at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, previously told Global News that stockpiling is largely caused by anxiety.
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“I think it’s a good idea to have an emergency supply kit. That’s a contingency plan, and it’s something that all Canadians should have, an emergency supply of things like they say: 72 hours of water or food, flashlights, matches, those kinds of things,” she explained.
However, Banerji cautioned against Canadians rushing out and buying large amounts of household items at once specifically over coronavirus fears.
“To say to every Canadian, ‘You need to get toilet paper,’ I think that’s going to cause shortages. I’m not sure that’s necessary.”
The new coronavirus was first identified in Hubei province, China, in December 2019 and spread rapidly. While the outbreak has begun to level off in China, it seems the virus has found a foothold in a number of countries around the world, and it continues to spread.
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Health officials say the risk is very low for Canadians, but they caution against travel to affected areas (a list can be found here). If you do travel to these places, they recommend you self-monitor to see whether you develop symptoms and if you do, to contact public health authorities.
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. And if you get sick, stay at home.
For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.
— With files from Global News’ Maham AbediFollow @meghancollie Meghan.Collie@globalnews.ca
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
